Astro Bot Wins Best VR/AR Game at the 2018 Game Awards

Astro Bot Rescue Mission, which originally launched on October 2nd, took home the award for “Best VR/AR Game” at the Game Awards which aired over the weekend.

The award was gifted to this year’s “best game experience playable in virtual or augmented reality, irrespective of platform.” Astro Bot beat out games like Beat Saber, Firewall Zero Hour, Moss, and Tetris Effect.

Astro Bot is basically a full-length spin-off game from a mini-game called “Robots Rescue” that was part of The Playroom VR, which was a free collection of co-op mini-games bundled with PSVR. The game was developed by Sony interactive entertainment JAPAN Studio.

The game allows you to control a robot named Astro and your goal is to collect his missing friends with the help of a growing array of tools that pop out of a DualShock 4 controller. Astro Bots received amazing reviews from everyone who has played it, so it is no shock that it won Best VR/AR game this year. Astro Bot proved that not all VR games need to be in first-person to offer an amazing immersive experience to a VR game.

The other games in the category do deserve an honorable mention especially since Tetris Effect, Firewall Zero Hour, and Moss are all killer games to play on VR as well. It isn’t surprising that Beat Saber didn’t make the cut since the game is still in early access on PC and just got released on the PSVR.

Astro Bot even received an amazing review from VR Focus saying:

“While Astro Bot Rescue Mission isn’t quite as charming as Moss, or as superbly crafted as Mario Odyssey, it is a great old-school platformer for the VR era, bringing some of the best features of both 2D and 3D platformers of old and incorporating VR in a way that doesn’t feel awkward. This is a fun, lighthearted way to spend some time in VR, and worth checking out.”

You can see all the winners for The Game Awards here. Are you surprised that Astro Bot took home Best VR/AR game, or did you think a different game should have won?